1967: The Popular Grew With City Of El Paso

It isn’t every day that a young infant,
celebrating its birthday, has such a heritage of Old Familiar Faces to
join in the celebration. Popular-Northgate, youngest offspring of the
future is not only the wish - but the predication of its Downtown
parents and its older sister, Popular-Bassett, now all of five years
old, and as gay and happy as most young children of its age. But in the
Popular tradition, also accepting its responsibilities.

Joining in the anniversary festivities is the Popular’s 20-Year Club, recently

honored through the press. It has members whose continuous service to

the Popular and to the public ranging from 21 to 47 years each,

represents in the aggregate, 1,915 years of service! … almost as many

years as there are in our present reckoning of time.

An
anniversary is a time to look forward, but also a time for retrospect.
And looking at this “Family Album” of 65 familiar faces – the Popular
points with justifiable pride to them and to scores of others who have
measured working hours in Smiles, Service and a Job Well done … helping
to make the Popular what it is today.

It’s a far cry from the
young and expectant infant, the first Popular, which came into being in
a bustling community only a few years after the railroad trains puffed
their way into a frontier town, that contained Texas’ biggest hotel,
the three-story Grand Central, and had a population of slightly over
16,000 people.

In 1902, Adolph Schwartz, renamed his “Fair” child – been popular for 65 years! These were the days when well-busted ladies stormed the Popular’s doors to see the latest in bicycle skirts and “waists” ear-deep in high boned collars. No “teasing of hair-dos – then - women bought “rats” for their pompadours, topped by Floradora hats that defied the laws of gravitation. It was the year the first radio message was sent across the Atlantic – the first motion picture theatre was built in Los Angeles, to show silent pictures. Hollywood wasn’t even a gleam in the eye.

HELPED HOUSEWIVES

Public
transportation was on the old mule drawn street car – out San Antonio
to Cotton, back on Magoffin – over to the then tiny Juarez. The driver
was always willing to accommodate housewives along the line – he went
right by the Popular anyway – and would just as soon as not, fetch a
spool of 50-White thread, or take a message to her husband not to
forget the roundsteak for dinner. The only traffic hazard was the
bicycle. A few folks had electric lights – most had gas or kerosene.

But
time marched on – and in 1905 Frank Bell drove the first horseless
carriage on El Paso streets … a Stanley Steamer. By 1907 there was talk
of extending Mesa Avenue right on to the hill – up on the rock shoulder
of Mountain Franklin. And Pete Kern, just back from Alaska, was
dreaming of building El Paso’s finest residential area up on the hill …
and he did!

As El Paso expanded, the Popular moved from Overland
Street “out into the country” into the ground floor of the Masonic
Building at the corner of Mesa and San Antonio … not exactly on the
corner … out in front was a big tree, and in its shade a Plumbing Shop?
Women were buying high-button shoes with the new Cuban heels – Muna Loa
erupted in the Hawaiian Islands – Carrie Nation was conduction her
first hatchet raid on a saloon in Kansas … and a record-setting trip
around-the-world was made in just 40 days and 19 hours! The Popular was
bringing merchandise from all over the nation to meet increasing
demands and was already a recognized Fashion center. The old Edison
Cylinder talking machine gave way to the Phonograph and the Victrola,
and a dog, listening to “His Master’s Voice,” took its place among the
unforgettable symbols of America.

The Popular flourished as the
city grew, and soon a streetcar line was running up Cotton Avenue, and
by 1912 one of the attractions for visitors was a ride on the Highland
Park street-car. Construction on a new hotel, to be called the Paso del
Norte, was underway at a cost of $900,000! New Mexico and Arizona
became the 47th and 48th states, and two more stars were added to Old
Glory. United States troops were on the Mexican border … the South Pole
was discovered and the Popular was selling the New “Coat Suits” with
skirts that swept the floor, fur boas hugged tight around the neck …
feathered hats rivaled those on the Cigar Store Indian.

By 1916
Piedras Street was opened all the way up the hill (far short of is
present terminus) – which meant more homes Northward and Eastward … and
more business for everybody.

BUILDING PURCHASED

The year
1916 was a year of momentous decision for the Popular! The sum of
$230,000 must have seemed like a lot of money to the men who had
started the little store on Overland only 14 yeas earlier. But that was
the price the Poplar paid for the Masonic Building – and soon a new
building rose on the site. Six stories high at first, with others yet
to come. The Popular continued to look forward, added to its laurels as
its buildings expanded upward and outward. Upward to a seventh floor –
outward to the Annex on Texas Street, and by late 1927 had secured
property for the new building on San Antonio – the same year Charles
Lindbergh flew solo to Paris – skirts rose above the knees (they were
not then called “minis”) – and boyish bobs became the vogue.

During
the next decade and more, rumblings of trouble were herd around the
world – but the Popular was still serving the ever-increasing
population and El Pasoans, like people everywhere in America, were
singing “The Beer Barrel Polka” – and “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” on
its first time around.

Dec. 7, 1941 …. “A day that will go down
in infamy”! The Japanese struck Pearl harbor … followed by the most
horrible war the world had ever known! But at last it was 1964 – two
World wars had happened some place in between, but they had been only a
temporary dam to the flood of community progress and the progress of
The Popular, who now expanded still further to meet the post-war needs
of their countless patrons and friends. A connecting five-story
building was completed on San Antonio – an eighth floor added to the
original building … occupying more than half a city block and covering
more than 200,000 square feet.

In 1960, the Popular’s big
Downtown building, long an El Paso landmark, caught the modern trend of
“youthifying” and beautification. It under went a complete
face-lifting. In January 1961 the familiar-to-old-times “Annex”
Building on Texas Street, gave way to a beautiful companion building. A
magnificent new warehouse, with 68,000 square feet of space, was
completed on the East side of the city, on Durango street, to expedite
the handling of merchandise between it and the Downtown store .. later
to serve Bassett and Northgate, as well. A Popular “shuttle” motor-bus
transports buyers back and forth, saving at least 60 per cent in time
gained by its modern methods.

The Popular, then 59 – not too
proud to be parents at their age, had another “blessed event” – the
beautiful new sibling, the Suburban Popular Store in Bassett Addition.

THIRD STORE ADDED

On
Aug. 1, 1966, the Popular had its second child, Popular – Northgate,
just as beautiful and blonde as its older sister, each with its own
distinctive personality. Completed in less than one year … making its
bow to an area reflecting El Paso’s vibrant, vital growth … a store
embodying all the quality, value, selection and service that have
become traditional with the Popular.

A complete suburban
department store, with fashions and furnishings to meet the needs of
all the northeast and outlying areas. Conveniently arranged for
merchandise display, and to make shopping a joy … a warm and friendly
place to shop – or just to browse. Its most distinctive architectural
features are the pre-cast 54 12-ton exposed aggregate panels and
concrete vault canopies, the classic dignity of the repeating arches.
The masonry is Coronado White Stone, quarried from Mt. Franklin.

Ceilings
are acoustical tile – the interior a symphony of colors, with inviting
broad expanses of aisles, for unhurried shopping. Air-conditioning is
zoned by using 22 separate units, which total 120 tons of
air-conditioning … all units monitored from a master panel. Lighting,
carefully engineered, uses true color north white florescent and
incandescent lights in combination for a true color perception of
merchandise. The store is equipped with speakers throughout, bring
softly played music continuously. The “Fashion Aisle”, running North to
South, has a special sound feature of being able to announce fashion
shows .. and call systems are connected throughout the store for
announcements and paging.

SONS CARRYING ON

None of the
original founders of the store are living today, but Herbert M.
Schwartz and Albert J. Schwartz, sons of the long-time president,
Maurice Schwartz, are president and vice president respectively.

Frederick
S. Strelitz is manager of the Northgate Store, a young man who grew up
in Popular tradition. He has worked for Popular ever since his college
days; received his training in various capacities at the Downtown and
Bassett stores, so that his experience equips him to handle the
operation of a fine suburban store of this magnitude.

From merry
Widow Hats to Mini-Skirts – from celluloid collars to teeny-boppers …
the past six decades in El Paso have brought starling changes in every
phase of community life.

And, as El Paso has grown from a small
town of horse-and-buggy transportation and mule-cars, to a modern
metropolis, hub of the Southwest – where the Atomic Age was born – the
Popular, now a family of three, serving a trade area spanning some 600
miles in each direction, has expanded to meet increasing needs.

And now the proud parent of Two children, Popular-Bassett and the beautiful new Popular-Northgate … One Year Old, going on Two!